Poetry

Poetry Foundation is the website for the Poetry Magazine. The magazine publishing company is located in Chicago, Illinois run by the deputy director of administration,  Krystal Languell. The website makes it easier and faster to find more poems and information about a specific poetry related topic. It allows someone to get more information about Renaissance playwrights and authors as well as authors from other eras like Edgar Allan Poe, D.H. Lawrence, and Layli Long Soldier. Poetry Foundation includes poems, articles, and poets from different cultures and time periods. The websites even makes it easy for someone to find collections of a specific topic. Some of their collections include Poetry and Feminism, Native American Poetry, and Poems of Jewish Faith and Culture. 

The variety of poems include some for all ages. There’s a section where someone can find poems specifically for kids as well as teenagers. The website includes a section for audio poems. People can listen to some poems instead of reading them.  A part of the website is dedicated to learning. They have this section split up into different sections. There’s a section for children, teenagers, adults, educators, and even a glossary of poetry terms. The glossary has definitions of every poetry term which they have organized in alphabetical order. Some of the terms they have are abecedarian, Kenning, and Tanka. 

There’s even a place where someone can get information on how to submit their own work, so they can be featured in the magazine. In order to submit poems, it has to be original work. The website mentions they prefer the poems to be written in English or at least translated to English. They no longer accept paper submissions since July 2013. On this page, they list the steps that a person would need to follow to send their submission.

Works Cited

Languell Krystal. Poetry Foundation. Web Access 10/11/2019. https://www.poetryfoundation.org

The Writer

Originating in 1887 and currently being published by Madavor Media in Massachusetts, The Writer is a monthly periodical/magazine dedicated to “expanding and supporting the work of professional writers with a straightforward presentation of industry information, writing instruction and professional and personal motivation. In the pages of our magazine, writers share experiences, expertise, struggles, advice, successes and suggestions” (Submission Guidelines). Throughout this resource, readers will find articles written by experienced as well as emerging writers devoted to a variety of topics, such as improving writing strategies and tips for attaining a related career. Articles usually range from 300 all the way to 3,000 words, depending on the topic or department. Length requirements are specified in the magazine’s webpage under “Submission Guidelines.” Details concerning required content within each submission for each department are given, as well.

Each issue of The Writer contains a note from Editor Alicia Anstead, an English department graduate of American University and the University of Maine. In each note from the editor located on page four of The Writer¸ Anstead includes a personal explanation of that issue’s content and the mission in publishing each article. For easy navigation of the magazine, a Table of Contents is located on the first two pages, with the name of the article underneath the corresponding department. Only one article per department is published monthly, some examples being “Type Faster” and “Make Them Tell Stories” from the October, 2013 issue. Underneath each article title is a brief summary and the name of the contributor; whether or not they are an aspiring or professional writer is not specified. Each article is in paragraph form, sometimes divided up into different sections for organizational sake, and the majority of them include accompanying photographs, mostly of the authors themselves.

The Writer contains a vast amount of graphics appealing to the eye of the reader, some of these being advertisements. Most of the ads obviously include things that writers would be interested in, such as self-publication companies and colleges. Others include store ads, attempting to persuade readers to buy their “organizing essentials” such as bookends and desktop organizers from WalMart or Staples.

The Writer can be a useful resource for those ambitious writers looking to better their writing strategies or careers by advice of the more experienced, those who have “already been there and done that.” On the other hand, this magazine is also devoted to readers who merely enjoy writing as a hobby and like to read about the experiences of other people sharing the same interest.

Works Cited
“Meet the Staff.” The Writer. Ed. Alicia Anstead. Madavor Media, n.d. Web.
“Submission Guidelines.” The Writer. Ed. Alicia Anstead. Madavor Media, n.d. Web.
McGarrigle, Dale. “Make Them Tell Stories.” The Writer Oct. 2013: 18-19. Print.
Willis, Jennifer. “Type Faster.” The Writer Oct. 2013: 12-13. Print.